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Plants are often subjected to periods of soil and atmospheric water deficit during their life cycle. The frequency of such phenomena is likely to increase in the future even outside today’s arid/semi-arid regions. Under the climatic changing context, soil water deficit has been, and is becoming an acute problem most constraining plant growth, terrestrial ecosystem productivity, in many regions all over the world, particularly in arid and semi-arid area. With global warming, it is expected that soil water deficit would be escalated by increasing evapotranspiration, increasing the frequency and intensity of soil water deficit with an increase from 1% to 30% in extreme water deficit land area by 2100, which would offset the beneficial effect from the elevated CO2 concentration, further limiting the structure and function of the terrestrial ecosystem. Thus, an understanding of stress due to soil water deficit and water use in relation to plant growth is of importance for sustainable agriculture. Soil water deficit affects the growth, dry mater, and harvestable yield in a number of plant species, but the tolerance of any species to this menace varies remarkably. Plant responses to water scarcity are complex, involving deleterious and/or adaptive changes, and under field conditions these responses can be synergistically or antagonistically modified by the superimposition of other stresses. A ramified root system has been implicated in the tolerance to water deficit and high biomass production primarily due to its ability to extract more water from soil and its transport to above-ground parts for photosynthesis. In addition to other factors, changes in photosynthetic pigments are of paramount importance for tolerance to soil water deficit. Of the two photosynthetic pigments classes, carotenoids show multifarious roles in tolerance to water deficit including light harvesting and protection from oxidative damage caused by soil water deficit. Thus, increased contents specifically of carotenoids are important for stress tolerance. Differences among species that can be traced to different capacities for water acquisition, rather than to differences in metabolism at a given water status, are described. Changes in the root: shoot ratio or the temporary accumulation of reserves in the stem are accompanied by alterations in nitrogen and carbon metabolism, the fine regulation of which is still largely unknown. At the leaf level, the dissipation of excitation energy through processes other than photosynthetic carbon metabolism is an important defense mechanism under conditions of water stress and is accompanied by down-regulation of photochemistry and, in the longer term, of carbon metabolism.

In natural and agroecosystem, plants are continuously exposed to environmental stresses. Besides having evolved several indigenous tolerance mechanisms, proper management of agricultural practices contribute to avert deleterious impact of stressful conditions. Mineral nutrients have irreplaceable role in plant metabolism. Deficiency in any mineral nutrients impedes plant growth, which has direct association with yield potential of the plant. Mineral nutrients participate in the synthesis of essential organic molecules, such as amino acids and proteins, and nutrient imbalance can affect many biological processes. Soil water deficit disturbs mineral nutrient relations, inhibiting plant growth and development, which reflects on the final crop yield. Water deficit normally reduces mass flow-dependent mineral nutrient uptake and the translocation of these nutrients from the roots to the shoot, affecting all metabolic processes of plant physiology. On the other hand, proper supplementation of mineral elements to crop plants can contribute to avoid stress for soil water deficit through their active participation in several defense mechanisms. Global climate changes are expected to increase the occurrence and duration of soil water deficit in arid and semi-arid regions, leading farmers, and governments to face an increasing risk of food security.

Plants in nature are continuously exposed to several biotic and environmental limitations. Among these limitations, soil water deficit is one of the most adverse factors of plant growth and productivity and is considered a severe threat for sustainable crop production in the conditions of changing climate. Scarcity of water is a severe environmental constraint to plant productivity. Soil water deficit-induced loss in crop yield probably exceeds losses from all other causes, since both the severity and duration of the limitations are critical. Various management strategies have been proposed to cope with soil water deficit. Soil water deficit reduces leaf size, stem extension, and root proliferation, disturbs plant–water relations, and reduces water use efficiency. Plants display a variety of physiological and biochemical responses at cellular and whole-organism levels towards prevailing soil water deficit, thus making it a complex phenomenon. CO2 assimilation by leaves is reduced mainly by stomatal closure, membrane damage, and disturbed activity of various enzymes, especially those of CO2 fixation and adenosine triphosphate synthesis. Low molecular weight osmolytes, including glycine betaine, proline, and other amino acids, organic acids, and polyols are crucial to sustain cellular functions under soil water deficit. Plant growth substances such as salicylic acid, auxins, gibberellins, cytokinins, and abscisic acid modulate the plant responses towards soil water deficit. Polyamines, citrulline, and several enzymes act as antioxidants and reduce the adverse effects of water deficit. Soil water deficit is a multidimensional phenomenon affecting plants at various levels of their organization. The effect of and plant response to soil water deficit at the whole plant and crop level is most complex because it reflects the integration of these environmental limitation effects and responses at all underlying levels of organization over space and time.

The effect of water deficit on nitrogen nutrition is complex and requires a multiscale approach, from the membrane to the crop, and different media and their interfaces. The first and most important need is to separate growth-induced changes from the direct effects of water deficits. The main effect of water restriction is certainly a reduction in nitrogen demand due to the marked sensitivity of leaf area expansion. Nitrogen nutrition indices can reveal the processes that alter plant nutrition independently of its actual demand. Process-based crop growth simulation models must currently incorporate these concepts, either implicitly or explicitly. It is noteworthy, however, that they still do not take similar account of the interaction between nitrogen and water water deficit, thus reflecting the ongoing discussion concerning co-limitation analysis in crops. Indeed, some aspects remain poorly understood, especially concerning the establishment of the supply of nitrogen to meet plant needs. The main effect of water restriction is certainly a reduction in nitrogen demand due to the marked sensitivity of leaf area expansion. Nitrogen nutrition indices can reveal the processes that alter plant nutrition independently of its actual demand. Process-based crop growth simulation models must currently incorporate these concepts, either implicitly or explicitly. It is noteworthy, however, that they still do not take similar account of the interaction between nitrogen and soil water deficit, thus reflecting the ongoing discussion concerning co-limitation analysis in crops. Indeed, some aspects remain poorly understood, concerning the establishment of the supply of nitrogen to meet plant needs.

Soil water deficit is one of the major environmental factor limiting photosynthesis and consequently plant growth and yield worldwide. There has been a long standing controversy as to whether soil water deficit mainly limiting photosynthesis through diffusive resistance or by metabolic impairment. These changes are mainly related to altered metabolic functions, one of those is either loss of or reduced synthesis of photosynthetic pigments. Photosynthesis together with cell growth is among the primary processes to be affected by water deficit. Photosynthetic response to water deficit is highly complex as it involves interplay of limitations taking place at different sites of cell/leaf and at different time scales in relation to plant development. This results in declined light harvesting and generation of reducing powers, which are a source of energy for dark reactions of photosynthesis. These changes in the amounts of photosynthetic pigments are closely associated to plant biomass yield. Because photorespiration is directly linked with photosynthetic metabolism and depends on the recycling of RuBP, severe water deficit should also result in reduced rates of photorespiration. Photorespiration pathway can protect the photosynthetic apparatus against photoinhibition by sustaining photon utilization in non-assimilatory electron flow. This function of photorespiration is important when electron describes some aspects of soil water deficit-induced changes in morphological, physiological, and pigments composition in higher plants. Photorespiration is present in C3 plants and was enhanced during soil water deficit in barley and that the control exerted by photorespiratory enzymes on the rate of photosynthetic electron transport and CO2 fixation was increased. Despite the importance of respiration in ecosystem annual net productivity the fact that ecosystem respiration is strongly affected by water availability, studies examining the effects of water deficit on respiration are few.

An ever-expanding world population and globally changing diet preferences have put considerable pressure on the worldwide agricultural community to produce more food, feed, and bioenergy crops. As a result, marginal land areas will need to be used to meet the increasing requirement of future generations, especially in developing countries. These marginal areas commonly impose various types of stresses on crops due to factors such as salinity, soil water deficit, temperature extremes, flooding, low nutrients, and aluminum or heavy metal toxicity. As a consequence, the growth and yield of crops from such areas is typically low and their quality is poor, limiting farmer income. Endogenous plant growth regulators play an important role in regulating plant responses to above-mentioned stresses by sensitizing growth and developmental processes. While the physiological and molecular mechanisms linked to the role of abscisic acid and cytokinins in stress tolerance are well explained, there is growing interest to elucidate the associations of auxins, ethylene, gibberellins, brassinosteroids, and polyamines in water deficit tolerance mechanism and also on possible cross-talk mechanism among different growth regulators during tolerance acquisition. Identification and characterization of the gene regulating synthesis of different endogenous growth regulators and recent progresses on hormonal signaling, mutant research, and physiological actions have provided scope for manipulating their biosynthetic pathways for developing transgenic crop plants with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance. Researches have also provided some leads in exploiting the potential of growth regulators in enhancing the resistance to abiotic stresses of crops. Plant growth regulators are chemical compounds that stimulate plant growth and productivity when applied, even in small quantities at appropriate plant growth stages. These are being extensively used in agriculture to enhance the productivity in agricultural crops. Their central role in plant growth and development is through nutrient allocation and source–sink transitions while most of the plant bio-regulators stimulate redox signaling under abiotic stress conditions.

Resource-use efficiency is a baseline for productive agriculture and proper management of different resources (water, nitrogen, light, and land), and it plays a pivotal role in the accomplishment of this goal. Nitrogen is the most critical input that limits rice productivity. The management of this resource is a significant challenge to most agricultural systems as it can have a significant impact on yield and the environment. The use of applied nitrogen fertilizer to cereals is poor, where only 30–40% is actually used by cereals and the remainder is lost to the environment by surface runoff, soil denitrification, and volatilization. The required amount of nitrogen depends on soil type, variety, climate, method of application, and type of fertilizer. However, supply of the proper amount of nitrogen based on the physiological requirement is the key factor. Poor nutrient management leads to low nutrient-use efficiency and often to large nutrient losses. Poor water management leads to low water-use efficiency and possibly also to low nutrient-use efficiency due to high nutrient leaching losses. Currently, only about half of the applied nitrogen fertilizer is taken up by the crop, depending on crop type and management, while the remainder accumulates in the soil temporarily and/or is lost to the atmosphere via ammonia volatilization and (de)nitrification losses, and/or is lost to groundwater and surface water bodies via leaching, overland flow, and erosion. Globally, nitrogen-use efficiency of crop systems has shown decreasing trends for many continents over the last 50 years, mainly because of increasing nitrogen applications, poor nitrogen management, and the effect of the law of diminishing returns. The implication of decreasing trends of nitrogen-use efficiency suggest that nitrogen losses increase. Nitrogen-use efficiency of a crop plant refers to the relative balance between the amount of fertilizer taken up and then used by the crop versus the amount of fertilizer directly or indirectly applied. In other words, nitrogen-use efficiency looks at the fertilizer input recovery in a production system to classify which plants do this better or worse when compared equally based on production (yield). Nitrogen-use efficiency has been defined by many authors in the context of crop production and the literature contains a number of different definitions depending on whether authors are dealing with agronomic, genetic, or physiological studies first defined nitrogen-use efficiency as grain production per unit of available nitrogen in soil. Nitrogen-use efficiency gives an idea as it delivers a numerical measure of the usefulness of plants to absorb and transform available nitrogen into potential yield under different cropping systems. Nitrogen fertilizer is among the central inputs for cereal production.

Secondary metabolites are useful natural products that are synthesized through secondary metabolism in plants. The production of some secondary metabolites is linked to the induction of morphological differentiation and appears as cells undergo morphological differentiation and maturation during plant growth. Plant secondary metabolites play a significant role in plant adaptation to various environmental constraints that not only influence plant growth but also alter the biosynthesis of secondary metabolites. Plant growth and development are precisely regulated by secondary metabolism that acts as a reservoir of key phytochemicals, protecting plants against multiple environmental constraints. These plant secondary metabolites are important candidates for human nutrition. A number of plant secondary metabolites possess antioxidant properties that act as the first line of defense against oxidative damage induced by different environmental (including high temperature) constraints. Plant secondary metabolites have not been fully studied with respect to their relevant functions in plants under environmental stress.

The productivity of a crop depends on the ability of plant cover to intercept the incident radiation, which is a function of the leaf area available, the architecture of vegetation cover and conversion efficiency of the energy captured by the plant in biomass. Water stress and nutrition reduce leaf area index (LAI) to a smaller size and greater leaf senescence. The smaller size of LAI agrees with light capture and thus crop growth, decreasing the efficiency of radiation. The measurement of radiation intercepted by a crop for formation of leaf area is an important factor in monitoring crops, water relations studies, nutrition, and in crop simulation models.

Climate and weather influence cropping area, intensity, and yield in different ways. Farmers’ decision-making and technology modulate these influences. Improving our knowledge of climate influences on and management contributions to cropping area and intensity as well as yield is important to reduce the uncertainty of future climate change impacts on crop production and develop more targeted climate adaptation responses. It may facilitate the development of strategies to deal with the influence of typhoons, heavy rain, floods, and hail storms on cropping systems, or the influence of early snow melt on the ability to operate farm machinery, issues which have hitherto received far less attention compared to developing strategies to deal with the influence of extreme heat stress and/or drought on crop yields. Most plants show considerable capacity to adjust their photosynthetic characteristics to their growth temperatures (temperature acclimation). The most typical case is a shift in the optimum temperature for photosynthesis, which can maximize the photosynthetic rate at the growth temperature. These plastic adjustments can allow plants to photosynthesize more efficiently at their new growth temperatures. There are differences in photosynthetic reactions in C3, C4, and crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants. The inherent ability for temperature acclimation of photosynthesis is different among C3, C4, and CAM species, and among functional types within C3 plants.

Water-use efficiency is an important subject in agriculture in semiarid regions, because of the increasing areas under irrigation and the high water requirements of crops. The scarcity of water resources is leading to increasing controversy about the use of water resources by agriculture and industry, for direct human consumption, and for other purposes. Such controversy could be alleviated by increasing the crop water-use efficiency, so that improving water-use efficiency of crops is becoming a main agriculture and food security goal. Moreover, climate change predictions show clear increases in temperatures (and a concomitant increase in potential evapotranspiration) and more frequent episodes of climatic anomalies, such as droughts and heat waves. In general terms, the efficiency of one process is the ratio between the obtained product (the numerator) and the energy or resource invested in the process (denominator). In the context of water-use efficiency the “product” is the assimilated carbon and the “inversion” is the used water (the resource). The numerator and denominator of this ratio may be considered at several levels, and consequently, different definitions of water-use efficiency can be made. The water issue is crucial for environmental sustainability of agriculture, because 60% of agriculture is located in semiarid areas and regular water applications are necessary to complete the growth cycle of crops. Crops in semiarid regions grow and mature during the driest months, making irrigation scheduling and timing critical. Consequently, scientific interest in research on crop water-use efficiency has focused on the evaluation of new irrigation techniques and on genetic variation in water-use efficiency in rootstocks or cultivars and reflect the social interest and necessity of optimizing water use in viticulture. Evapotranspiration, grain yield, biomass, water-use efficiency, and the harvest index of post rainy season crops were all affected by controlled ranges of soil water content during growing seasons. Grain yield response to irrigation varied considerably due to differences in soil moisture content and irrigation scheduling between seasons. Evapotranspiration was highest under continuous high soil moisture conditions, as was aboveground biomass. However, grain yield was not the highest in these conditions.

Abiotic stresses such as heat and drought are major abiotic stresses restraining crop production. Heat stress reduces plant growth by upsetting various morphological, anatomical, phenological, physiological, and biochemical processes and the developmental stage of the plant is critical in demonstrating the vulnerability of various species and cultivars subjected to high temperature. Direct injuries due to high temperatures in plants include protein denaturation and aggregation, and increased fluidity of membrane lipids. Indirect or slower high temperature injuries include inactivation of enzymes in chloroplasts and mitochondria, inhibition of protein synthesis, protein degradation, and loss of membrane integrity. Heat stress did not affect protein content but there is a strong correlation between leaf nitrogen content and grain protein content. Induction of heat shock proteins seems to be the universal response and adaptation to temperature stress. Plant cells respond to a transient increase in temperature by inducing or enhancing the synthesis of a characteristic set of heat shock proteins with at least partial suspension of normal cellular proteins synthesis, to focus the cell’s activities on addressing the physiological and biochemical changes caused by heat stress. It has been documented that due to the significant roles of osmolytes in response to heat stress, tolerance might be enhanced by increased accumulation of compatible solutes through traditional plant breeding, marker-assisted selection, or genetic engineering approaches.

Global warming has effects and consequences on all walks of life. An increase of 2°C in temperature could decrease the rice yield by about 0.75 t/ha and a 0.5°C increase in winter temperature could reduce wheat yield by 0.45 t/ha. In view of global warming due to climate change, temperatures of most regions of the world are increasing. Therefore, temperature may become the most important environmental factor regulating crop growth and production potential. Temperature in conjunction with day length affects all growth processes of crops, and even different cultivars of the same crop may differ in their response. Heat stress adversely affects plant growth and development and induces oxidative stress in plants. Heat stress adversely affects normal plant growth and development depending on the sensitivity of each crop species. Each crop species has its own range of temperature maxima and minima at different developmental stages beyond which all these processes are inhibited. The reproductive stage is on the whole more sensitive to heat stress, resulting in impaired fertilization, causing abortion of flowers. During seed filling, heat stress retards seed growth by affecting all the biochemical events and reduces seed size. Unfavorable temperatures may significantly affect the photosynthesis, respiration, water balance, and membrane stability of leaves. To combat heat stress, plants acquire various defense mechanisms for their survival, such as maintaining membrane stability and scavenging reactive oxygen species by generating antioxidants and stress proteins. Thermotolerance can be improved by the accumulation of various compounds of low molecular mass known as thermoprotectants as well as phytohormones. Exogenous application of these molecules has benefited plants growing under heat stress. Alternatively, transgenic plants overexpressing the enzymes catalyzing the synthesis of these molecules may be raised to increase their endogenous levels to improve heat tolerance. In recent times, various transgenics have been developed with improved thermotolerance having potential benefits for inducing heat tolerance in food crops. Updated information about the effects of heat stress on various food crops and their responses as well as adaptive mechanisms is reviewed here.

Lipids are an essential constituent of all plant cells. The vegetative cells of plants contain 5%–10% lipid by dry weight, and almost all of this weight is found in the membranes. Although each square centimeter of a plant leaf may contain only 0.2 mg of lipid, this can account to 400 cm 2 of membrane, reflecting the fact that membrane lipids are arranged in layers just two molecules thick (5–8 nm). If a leaf mesophyll cell were to be expanded a million times, the membranes would still be less than 1 cm thick. Despite their slight dimensions, however, lipid membranes are the main barrier delineating the cell and its compartments, and they form the sites where many essential processes occur, including the light-harvesting and electron-transport reactions of photosynthesis. Some plant cells produce much more lipid than do leaf mesophyll cells. Lipids are the major form of carbon storage in the seeds of many plant species, constituting up to 60% of the dry weight of such seeds. Epidermal cells produce cuticular lipids that coat the surface of plants, providing the crucial hydrophobic barrier that prevents water loss and also giving protection against pathogens and other environmental stresses. In addition to the abundant cellular lipids, minor amounts of fatty acids are important as precursors to the hormone jasmonic acid and in acylation of certain membrane proteins.

An ever-expanding world population and globally changing climatic conditions have put considerable pressure on the worldwide agricultural community to produce more food, feed, and bioenergy crops. As a result, marginal land areas will need to be used to meet the increasing requirements of future generations, however these marginal areas commonly impose abiotic stresses on crops. Endogenous plant growth regulators play an important role in regulating plant responses to abiotic stress by sensitizing growth and developmental processes. While the physiological and molecular mechanisms linked to the role of abscisic acid and cytokinins in stress tolerance are well explained, there is growing interest to elucidate the associations of auxins, ethylene, gibberellins, and brassinosteroids, in stress tolerance mechanism and also on a possible crosstalk mechanism among different growth regulators during stress tolerance acquisition. Researches have also provided some leads in exploiting the potential of growth regulators in enhancing resistance to abiotic stresses of crops. Plant growth regulators are biochemical and chemical compounds that stimulate plant growth and productivity when applied, even in small quantities at appropriate plant growth stages. These are being extensively used in agriculture to enhance the productivity of agricultural crops. A better understanding of the mechanisms involved in plant tolerance to heat stress is of vital significance. Manipulation of phytohormones through breeding or exogenous application of various phytohormones at optimal doses may help to manage heat stress and thereby sustain crop production in the face of climate change. It is worth mentioning that activation of hormone-responsive genes in a specific tissue is crucial for the induction of stress tolerance and thus targeted manipulation of the plant hormone pool offers better efficacy for modulating the response of plants to heat stress. The use of growth regulators has become an important component of agrotechnical procedures for most cultivated plants, and especially for fruit plants. So far in fruit crops, excessive fruit drop can be controlled by the exogenous application of plant growth regulators. Auxin and gibberellins are widely used to control fruit drop and to improve the quality of fruit.

Intensive use of phosphorus (P) in agriculture has raised concerns about its sustainability due to potential resource scarcity and its nonudicious use, which has led to serious environmental pollution. Plants possess a number of adaptive mechanisms to cope with phosphorus stress leading to changes at morphological, physiological, biochemical, and molecular levels. A comprehensive understanding of these adaptive responses is required to improve phosphorus-uptake efficiency, partitioning, and utilization, together with other agronomic approaches, which would result in meeting the sustainability challenge of phosphorus delivery to crops. Phosphorus is often an important limiting factor for crop yields, but rock phosphate as fertilizer is a nonrenewable resource and expected to become scarce in the future. High phosphorus input levels in agriculture have led to environmental problems. One of the ways to tackle these issues simultaneously is by improving the phosphorus-use efficiency of crops through breeding.

Global climate change is not a new phenomenon. The effect of climate change poses many threats; one of the important consequences is bringing about changes in the quality and quantity of water resources and crop productivity. It can be concluded that the Indian region is highly sensitive to climate change. The agriculture sector is the most prone sector as it will have a direct bearing on the lives of 1.2 billion people. India has set a target of halving greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. There is an urgent need for coordinated efforts to strengthen the research to assess the impact of climate change on agriculture, forests, animal husbandry, aquatic life, and other living beings. Climate change, the outcome of “global warming,” has now started showing its impacts worldwide. Climate is the primary determinant of agricultural productivity which directly impacts on food production across the globe. The agriculture sector is the most sensitive sector to climate changes because the climate of a region/country determines the nature and characteristics of vegetation and crops. An increase in the mean seasonal temperature can reduce the growing duration of many crops and hence reduce final yield. Food production systems are extremely sensitive to climate changes, like changes in temperature and precipitation, which may lead to outbreaks of pests and diseases, thereby reducing the harvest and ultimately affecting the food security of the country. The net impact of food security will depend on the exposure to global environmental change and the capacity to cope with and recover from global environmental change. Coping with the impact of climate change on agriculture will require careful management of resources like soil, water, and biodiversity. To cope with the impact of climate change on agriculture and food production, India will need to act at the global, regional, national, and local levels. It has long been concerned with how crop water use efficiency responds to climate change. Most of the existing research has emphasized the impact of single climate factors but paid less attention to the effect of developed agronomic measures on crop water use efficiency. Based on the long-term field observations/experiments data, investigation have been carried out on changing responses of crop water use efficiency to climate variables (temperature and precipitation) and agronomic practices (fertilization and cropping patterns) in semiarid areas.

The volume deals with other aspect (s) of metabolic activities of plants under abiotic stress. This book discusses techniques for improving yield potential and adaptiveness to unfavorable environmental conditions. This book also addresses how knowledge of the changes in physiological mechanisms can contribute in understanding the yield structure under abiotic stress. • Abiotic Stress and Metabolic Responses in Plants • Abiotic Stress and Secondary Metabolites in Plants • Microbes: Support and Protect Plants against Abiotic Stresses • Abiotic Stress and Physiological Traits in Plants • Abiotic Stress and Heat Shock Proteins (HSPs) in Plants

Abiotic stress factors frequently constrain the growth and productivity of major crop species. The single greatest abiotic stress factor that limits crop growth worldwide is water availability. While genetic increases in yield potential are best expressed in optimum environments, they are also associated with enhanced yields under drought and nitrogen deficiency. These gains are especially relevant given that further large increases in the area under irrigation are not expected, and land deterioration associated with intensive agriculture threatens those areas already irrigated. This book is intended to cover all known factors of abiotic stresses and their respective effects on some of the important aspects of physiological processes in plants. • Abiotic Stress and Crop Yield • Physiology of Grain Legume Yield Under Abiotic Stress • Photosynthesis and Physiological Parameters Under Intercropping Condition • Role of Growth Regulators Under Abiotic Stress • Plant Water Relationship Under Abiotic Stress • Dry Matter Partitioning Under AbioticS tress • Effect of Pesticides on Physiological Processes in Plants

Today, nutraceuticals have been recognized as any natural product, food or dietary supplement that provides medical or health benefits including the prevention of diseases. Keeping these aspects in view, the book covers different types of Nutraceuticals used in livestock and poultry, their role, mode of application, advantages and disadvantages if any. In 1, the concepts of feeding nutraceuticals have been discussed and classified into several groups. 2 presents feeding of antibiotics to poultry and livestock species and how it has been gradually replaced by different feed additives preferentially called as nutraceuticals. 3 to 8 deals with different nutraceuticals often fed to poultry and livestock like probiotics, prebiotics, enzymes, organic acids, fatty acids and phytobiotics. The s introduce and classify the corresponding nutraceutical agents and then present a detail discussion on its efficacy as a feed ingredient, mode of action, specific rate of inclusion in the diet.

After learning a huge text, the theories and practices are abstracted in the form of mind charts or brief summaries in the mind. The purpose of this collection is to quickly recall the understanding of Biochemistry, Genetics, Biotechnology up to post graduate level. This text will help to get command on the above subject for students appearing for JEE, JRF, SRF, NET, SET, ARS etc. and the teachers involved in couching these students.